All New HTC One (2014) finagled in 14 minute hands-on; shows new camera features

We’re only a day away from the unveiling — and possible release — of the all new HTC One. We feel like we already know everything there is to know about this device thanks to countless leaks making their way to the internet. That said, it still excites us to see this 14 minute hands-on video ahead of launch.

There’s only one problem for all but one class of people — it’s in German. If you can understand the language then it appears to be a largely informative video, though those of us unlucky enough not to know it are left in the dark.

The video host seems to dive deep into most important aspects of the device, though we were particularly interested in the new camera features being shown off. He shows us how the dynamic post-snapshot focusing feature works thanks to the HTC One’s dual cameras.

He’s able to quickly and easily adjust focus between a man and a woman in one shot. The effect is more akin to that fake Instagram-esque blur filter and doesn’t seem to give a true sense of depth of field like, say, a DSLR, but it’s more than most smartphone cameras can do in regards to focusing. He also enables an interesting 3D viewing effect, though it probably doesn’t come off as well as it would in person.

Beyond that, though, he takes us through some of the new features of HTC Sense 6.0, including a refreshed BlinkFeed experience, new Zoe features, and more. If nothing else, getting a nice, long look at that gorgeous aluminum unibody build might be enough incentive alone to watch the video. Be sure to do just that by hitting the play button above.

It’s still a lot better for transferring files. I know that first hand from using my portable hard drives. USB 2.0 is a lot slower.

https://plus.google.com/108596272537415356460/posts Jason Farrell

Sure, but wireless AC, at 100MB/s+, is as fast or faster than most hard drives and internal NAND storage, and definitely faster than external SD cards.

USB3 might make sense if you haven’t upgraded to wireless AC, though, AND you transfer a ton of files back and forth all the time from the fast INTERNAL storage vs slow external mass storage.

Roaduardo

It’s still good to have if you can have it on your mobile device. Just for a bit of future-proofing.

Socalnathan

That is the worst chin! Throws the whole device off. How can they be so great at design and yet blow the design?

toomuchgame441

I mean its not completely terrible…. :(… I still like it

Alec

Das chin!

DDroid45

Only thing I hate is the extra bezel. It seems HTC has to do at least 1 thing to make the perfect device, not so perfect, They really didn’t have to have so much, they coulda took away some of the bezel

Bernard Galeano

I wish they used the space available to them better to be able to make the device smaller. This is what Motorola did with their phones on Verizon, Samsung did the same with the S4 and the Note 3. They made the screen slightly bigger while at the same being able to shrink the overall size just a little. But HTC didnt even do that. I love the HTC one, its a qorgeous phone but if they then made it bigger or longer for no real reason…

Chad Vincent

New camera and related hardware, independent amps for the speakers, SD card slot… There’s plenty new inside the phone to justify the size. The S4 didn’t really have any new hardware in it, just newer versions of the existing S3 hardware. (Unless I’m forgetting some new feature?)

crocop24

Samsung is Samsung. They will sell regardless. Dumb comparison.

corona10

And que the bezel bitches…..

https://plus.google.com/108596272537415356460/posts Jason Farrell

The well-deserved bezel bitches.

Roaduardo

Hahaha!

Chrisrj8084

There may be some engineering reason to have that bottom bezel, there is a lot of engineering happening here and a lot to squeeze into the frame. Perhaps they weren’t able to shrink the phone size and still have dedicated amps and such.

Duong Duc Ngo

There is but no one here have taking anything above basic science to understand why there are bezel. HTC phone have good results on drop test much better then Samsung but all people do is cry about why they have big bezel. Nokia has big bezel but you don’t hear anyone crying about them

hemipw54

Don’t have to understand German to understand the cool 3D camera effect.

Andrew torres

Im really hoping they have something Similar to the download Booster on the GS5….This phone is just awesome looking from all angles.

Luckily the fact that it’s in German and there’s no big red check means it may not be a Verizon exclusive. The camera features seem awesome, but I’m only interested if they work on the Google Edition as well. I’m not a fan of skinned Android. (At all)

Also, much to my displeasure, the phone does not seem to be as nice looking at the original One that can be found in my pocket. Because of this, my current phone may remain in my pocket for the time being. Thoughts?

Edit: Apparently the phone will only be exclusive to Verizon for two weeks. Not a big deal.

crocop24

YAWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

WhoaManWtF

The top and bottom of the phone are like an inch and a half each of wasted space…